I am currently a keen road cyclist, but due to my work (I'm currently a travelling farmer) I am in serious need of a MTB. I am currently travelling around the UK with my Focus Cayo Pro in the boot which runs 23c tyres and simply can't be used on farm roads. I have a good understanding of road bikes and their components and am quite happy building track and road bikes myself; however I have never ventured into MTB bike builds.

My budget is extremely flexible from £0 upwards to £2k if really necessary. I love riding a light bike, but this MTB will be my daily commuter (on farm roads) so needs to be strong and reliable. I am unlikely to ever race on the bike, but would like to go offroading around 3 times a week and put the bike and myself through its/my paces.

My desired spec list would be as below, but I would really appreciate some assistance as I am not experienced with the MTB groupsets at all;

If used as daily commuter on farm roads, I would assume easy fire-raod type riding and plenty of mud? For this I would recomend something totally differnent to your spec above, steel HT, rigid forks, maybe carbon ones, either singlespeed or hub-geared.

If you have a budget of £2k, £500 should get you a reasonable rigid ss (maybe bits from fleabay/classifieds and the other £1,500 will get you a decent ali frame with bouncy forks and SLX/XT drivetrain which you won't wreck prematurely by riding chewed-up muddy farm tracks every day. Last year's Kona Kula Delux (scandium frame, Rebas, XT etc) new on fleabay for around £1,200.

So... I plan on making my first purchase on the carbon MTB hardtail world in the coming months, so I would like some input from more experienced riders.I currently own a aluminum road bike and ride it around 4 times a week. I probably won't be able to ride trails as much as I'd like, but I do love it (I had the oportunity of doing so on some friends' bikes in the past) and want to seize an opportunity of buying a great bike MTB bike on my interchange this next semester.Anyway, I've been checking Rocky Mountain's Vertex 950 RSL and Specialized's Stumpjumper Comp Carbon 29. Which one you guys like better? Any other suggestions?Thanks (in advance) for your thoughts!

I'm riding an alu Boardman HT which I've managed to shed off lbs to a level below where carbon HT's start for a fraction of the price, they're usually around 23+lbs out of the box for around £1500 or more.

I can't comment on longevity/quality/design personally only on what I discovered whilst I was researching myself. I couldn't find a cheap enough option and was concerned about frame failures in the future. The weight issue though something I was interested in was too much of a compromise for myself.

Within reasonable price range if I could choose any carbon frame it'd be a White 19c or 20c, they're gorgeous to look at and British.Everyone seems to think that Scott Scale 35's, 30's and upwards are the best mainstream carbon frames out there.Rocky Mountains are also very lovely looking and quite rare.

A lot depends on what you have to spend but stretching to get a carbon frame with lower end components is a bad idea in my opinion, especially if you wont be able to upgrade in the future. If money isn't an issue then there are a million possibilities a lot of which can offer you slightly different experiences.

The 29" issue is a tough one, I'm sure others will be able to enlighten you further.

A lot depends on what you have to spend but stretching to get a carbon frame with lower end components is a bad idea in my opinion, especially if you wont be able to upgrade in the future. If money isn't an issue then there are a million possibilities a lot of which can offer you slightly different experiences.

The 29" issue is a tough one, I'm sure others will be able to enlighten you further.

Well... I want a 29" for the speed. I am coming from a roadie afterall. I'm planning on spending around US$3500. I don't know if I should put it all on the stock bike or spent less and upgrade it. The Rocky Mountain Vertex 950 RSL seems to cost about $3k, so I'd have $500 for upgrades (pedals, grips, maybe a saddle...).

On the subject of upgrades, I like thick bars. What do you think about using handlebar tape instead of grips to make it the thickness I like? I was think about using Lizard Skins dsp tape for it's tackyness.

It depends on the trails you'll be riding, but a rigid 29er sounds like it might be up your street.

The On One Scandal is a decent, lightweight frame. On One also do rigid carbon forks. Try Merlin, or one of the German shops (Rose bikes for example) for an XT groupset and brakes. Hope Hoops are hard to beat for wheels, get them with some Stans rims.

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